Golf

Paul Dunne has China Open victory in his sights

A third round 67 leaves Dunne just two strokes off the lead of Wallace and Otaegui

England’s Matt Wallace shares the lead heading into the final round of the Volvo China Open. Photograph: Paul Lakatos/AFP

Sat Apr 28 2018 - 11:33

Paul Dunne is two shots off the lead heading into the final round of the Volvo China Open after he shot a blemish-free 67 on Saturday.

After a slow start on Thursday a second round 68 put Dunne on the fringes of contention heading into the weekend.

And he is now firmly in the mix, with five birdies and no dropped shots seeing him sign for a third round 67 - leaving him on 10 under par for the tournament.

He trails England's Matt Wallace, who takes a share of the lead into the final round as he goes in search of a third European Tour title in 12 months.

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Wallace did not even have full playing privileges when he won in Portugal last May but he has since added the Hero Indian Open to his trophy cabinet and a 69 on Saturday saw him get to 12 under alongside Spain's Adrian Otaegui.

The 28 year-old held a one-shot lead coming into day three and birdies on the third, eighth and 10th kept him ticking over but Otaegui made five in a row from the eighth to join him at 12 under.

Wallace made a brilliant up-and-down from over the back of the driveable 15th to lead on his own but a bogey on the 17th after a poor drive left him in a share of top spot.

“Again it was frustrating but I’m playing really good golf so there’s not much else I can do,” he told europeantour.com.

“I’m playing really nicely, I’m hitting it long and straight and if I do that tomorrow I’ll have a few chances at birdie. We’re tied for the lead so I’m pretty happy.”

Otaegui made 13 pars either side of his birdie burst to sign for a 67.

Swede Alexander Bjork, Spaniard Jorge Campillo and Frenchman Julien Guerrier are at 11 under.

China Opan collated scores:

204 Matt Wallace 65 70 69, Adrian Otaegui (Spa) 68 69 67
205 Alexander Bjork (Swe) 66 72 67, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 69 68 68, Julien Guerrier(Fra)68 69 68
206 Sihwan Kim (Kor) 70 66 70, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 72 66 68, Paul Dunne 71 68 67, Andrea Pavan(Ita)68 72 66, Nacho Elvira(Spa)69 67 70, Jin-ho Choi(Kor)69 72 65
207 Jason Scrivener (Aus) 67 69 71, Alexander Levy (Fra) 69 73 65, Clement Sordet(Fra)71 70 66, Matteo Manassero(Ita)72 68 67, Ashun Wu(Chn)70 71 66, Soomin Lee(Kor)68 69 70, Nino Bertasio(Ita)65 73 69
208 Jason Norris (Aus) 74 64 70, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71 70 67, Micah Lauren Shin(USA)71 71 66, Jordan Smith 69 69 70, Ashley Chesters 72 68 68, Scott Vincent (Zim) 66 74 68
209 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 70 73 66, Joost Luiten (Ned) 70 69 70, Shubhankar Sharma(Ind)69 72 68, Daxing Jin(Chn)64 76 69, Arjun Atwal(Ind)69 72 68, Hong-fu Wu(Chn)73 67 69, Chris Hanson 71 71 67, Yuta Ikeda(Jpn)69 72 68
210 Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 71 68 71, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 70 72 68, David Lipsky(USA)68 75 67, Andrew Dodt(Aus)69 72 69, Pablo Larrazabal(Spa)70 69 71
211 Lasse Jensen (Den) 73 68 70, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 73 70 68, Scott Jamieson 67 71 73, Aaron Rai 73 70 68, Phachara Khongwatmai(Tha)70 72 69, Julian Suri(USA)71 69 71, Thorbjorn Olesen(Den)74 67 70, Keith Horne(Rsa)69 74 68, Gavin Green(Mal)73 67 71, Edoardo Molinari(Ita)72 71 68, Marcus Fraser(Aus)72 71 68
212 Haotong Li (Chn) 70 70 72, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 73 68 71, Kiradech Aphibarnrat(Tha)73 70 69, Marcel Siem(Ger)75 68 69, Sam Horsfield 69 70 73, Gaganjeet Bhullar(Ind)68 72 72, Masahiro Kawamura(Jpn)69 70 73
213 Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 74 68 71, Panuphol Pittayarat (Tha) 68 74 71,
Richard T Lee (Can) 71 68 74
214 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 68 73 73, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 70 71 73, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 70 73 71, Alvaro Quiros(Spa)69 71 74, James Morrison 70 70 74
215 Miguel Tabuena (Ph) 71 72 72, Khalin H Joshi (Ind) 71 71 73, Yan-wei Liu(Chn)70 73 72
216 Xue-wen Luo (Chn) 72 68 76
217 Romain Wattel (Fra) 72 69 76, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 73 68 76

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